Chapter 11
Cross-cutting Perspective Freshwater
Carina Furusho, Rodrigo Vidaurre, Isabelle La Jeunesse
and Maria-Helena Ramos
11.1 Introduction
One singularity of northwestern Europe (NWE) is that severe droughts are rare
events in the region and water scarcity has hardly been experienced in its history.
The DROP pilot sites are not exceptions to this context. Although the lack of a
drought history in wet areas can explain why drought and water scarcity are not
necessarily the focus of (if ever considered in) river basin management plans, it
must be noted that freshwater availability for drinking water provision remains a
priority stake in both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Providing a reliable and
safe supply of drinking water may thus be a leading entryway to the development of
drought risk awareness and drought adaptation measures in a river basin. When
such essential resource is threatened and the competition for water among users
increases, there is a good chance that reflections and changes will be triggered.
Water use conflicts and drinking water supply threats may arise due to increased
water demand, but also due to decreased water availability. The later may occur
because of natural climate variability, i.e., drier years than average, or as the result
of the impact of climate change on local water resources. Climate change awareness
is then an important asset to manage water availability. Where climate change
awareness is low and adaptation measures are basically inexistent, social and
political responses to drought adaptation may be slow and inefficient. However,
even in those cases where climate change awareness is still low in general society,
C. Furusho (&) Á M.-H. Ramos
IRSTEA, UR HBAN, 1 rue Pierre-Gilles de Gennes CS 10030, 92761 Antony, France
e-mail: carina.furusho@irstea.fr
R. Vidaurre
Ecologic Institute, Pfalzburger Str. 43/44, 10717 Berlin, Germany
I. La Jeunesse
Université de Tours, UMR CNRS 7324 Citeres, 33, allée Ferdinand de Lesseps,
B.P. 60449, 37204 Tours cedex 3, France
© The Author(s) 2016
H. Bressers et al. (eds.), Governance for Drought Resilience,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29671-5_11
217
Cross-cutting Perspective Freshwater
Carina Furusho, Rodrigo Vidaurre, Isabelle La Jeunesse
and Maria-Helena Ramos
11.1 Introduction
One singularity of northwestern Europe (NWE) is that severe droughts are rare
events in the region and water scarcity has hardly been experienced in its history.
The DROP pilot sites are not exceptions to this context. Although the lack of a
drought history in wet areas can explain why drought and water scarcity are not
necessarily the focus of (if ever considered in) river basin management plans, it
must be noted that freshwater availability for drinking water provision remains a
priority stake in both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Providing a reliable and
safe supply of drinking water may thus be a leading entryway to the development of
drought risk awareness and drought adaptation measures in a river basin. When
such essential resource is threatened and the competition for water among users
increases, there is a good chance that reflections and changes will be triggered.
Water use conflicts and drinking water supply threats may arise due to increased
water demand, but also due to decreased water availability. The later may occur
because of natural climate variability, i.e., drier years than average, or as the result
of the impact of climate change on local water resources. Climate change awareness
is then an important asset to manage water availability. Where climate change
awareness is low and adaptation measures are basically inexistent, social and
political responses to drought adaptation may be slow and inefficient. However,
even in those cases where climate change awareness is still low in general society,
C. Furusho (&) Á M.-H. Ramos
IRSTEA, UR HBAN, 1 rue Pierre-Gilles de Gennes CS 10030, 92761 Antony, France
e-mail: carina.furusho@irstea.fr
R. Vidaurre
Ecologic Institute, Pfalzburger Str. 43/44, 10717 Berlin, Germany
I. La Jeunesse
Université de Tours, UMR CNRS 7324 Citeres, 33, allée Ferdinand de Lesseps,
B.P. 60449, 37204 Tours cedex 3, France
© The Author(s) 2016
H. Bressers et al. (eds.), Governance for Drought Resilience,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29671-5_11
217